Junior hockey legend 'Punch' Mclean missing

Ernie "Punch" McLean was awarded WHL Coach of the Year in 1975. (CTV)

A coordinated search is underway in northern British Columbia to find Ernie "Punch" Mclean, a longtime WHL coach and B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame inductee.

The 77-year-old, who guided the New Westminster Bruins to two Memorial Cup titles in the 1970s, was reported missing Sunday afternoon.

He was last seen near a gold claim he was working on approximately 80 kilometres east of Dease Lake.

RCMP believe he was surveying the property on Turnagain Lake when he disappeared.

"The area is mountainous and remote, only accessible by all-terrain vehicle and by air," Cst. Craig Douglass said in a release.

Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) has been brought in to assist the search, as well as police dog services, B.C. Park Rangers and the B.C. Forest Service.

A helicopter and fixed wing aircraft are conducting an air search.

Mclean, who was inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006, coached 16 seasons in the WHL with New Westminster and Estevan Bruins.

He is the second all time in WHL games coached, with 1,067. Mclean was awarded Coach of the Year in 1975.